


First Day Of My Life

by rllylame



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-29
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 18:50:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/903657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rllylame/pseuds/rllylame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gerard absentmindedly hummed along to the Bright Eyes song on the radio, strumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Whilst the rain outside pelted against his windscreen before being chased away by his window wipers, he was reminded of what an awful day it was. Oliver, his brothers golden Labrador puppy shifted awkwardly on the passenger seat beside Gerard, his silky fur slipping against the leather. Gerard reached out a hand to steady the puppy and touching his soft downy fur, he ruffled his ears causing the young puppy to look up with what looked like a huge grin on it’s friendly face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Think I Was Blind Before I Met You

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my volunteering job at a local doggy day care center. All names of staff and dogs are non fictional, name of business however is fictional.

This is the first day of my life

I swear I was born right in the doorway

I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed

They’re spreading blankets on the beach

Yours is the first face that I saw

I think I was blind before I met you

Now I don’t know where I am

I don’t know where I’ve been

But I know where I want to go

Gerard absentmindedly hummed along to the Bright Eyes song on the radio, strumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Whilst the rain outside pelted against his windscreen before being chased away by his window wipers, he was reminded of what an awful day it was. Oliver, his brothers golden Labrador puppy shifted awkwardly on the passenger seat beside Gerard, his silky fur slipping against the leather. Gerard reached out a hand to steady the puppy and touching his soft downy fur, he ruffled his ears causing the young puppy to look up with what looked like a huge grin on it’s friendly face. 

On any other day, especially on a cold July morning with grey overcast skies and clouds that threatened more rain, Gerard would not be driving into town with his brother’s puppy as his company, but sleeping in bed until noon, waking up, making some coffee and sleeping some more. Eventually he would surface at mid afternoon to draw, watch some crappy tv show or if it was a new issue day, venture outside to buy the latest issue of one of the comic books he loved. 

Unfortunately for Gerard, today wasn’t any other day. He was awakened at eight by his phone ringtone screaming Dig Up Her Bones by Misfits. Rolling over, Gerard had tried to ignore the harsh tones of the music but was unsuccessful. Despairing of the harsh tones at such an early hour, he had then reached out a hand from his mountain of unruly pillows and duvet and smashed his hand onto his bedside table, his hand desperately searching for his phone. Not being talented at hand-eye co ordination, and even less so without the eye, Gerard had knocked his phone onto his floor which was covered in piles of clothes, comic books and abandoned plates and mugs of coffee. 

Groaning, Gerard realized without getting up he would never be able to shut the racket off and get rid off his unwanted caller. Throwing off his duvet cover with an annoyed sigh, Gerard slowly rose out of bed and rubbed his eyes, attempting to quickly rub the sleep from his away before resuming his search for the mobile phone he was now regretting having ever bought. Dropping to the floor Gerard scanned the mess that was his floor, desperately searching for his iPhone. Blinking, he spotted in in the corner of his bedroom, tilted on it’s side and looking quite a bit worse for wear. Aware of the fact the phone would stop ringing soon, he made his way over to it. He was tempted to get back into bed without having retrieved the phone, however the thought struck him that the unknown caller may attempt to ring him again minutes later, repeating the whole damn process all over again. He was also aching to give the caller a piece of his mind for waking him. It was un natural to be up this early in the morning!

Unlocking his phone Gerard answering the call and was hit by the voice of his younger brother. 

“Gerard!,” Mikey sighed exasperatedly. “Dude what the hell, why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“I did!” Gerard fought back, annoyed at his younger brother for interrupting his slumber just to argue with him.

“I meant when I first called you. I feel like my phone has been ringing yours for five minutes straight,” Mikey explained. 

“You woke me up! Why did you call me so early anyway?” 

“Gerard, Mikey chuckled. ‘This is not early.” 

“Um, I think you’ll find it is”, Gerard argued, even though the beam of morning light bursting through his window at that particular moment appeared to disagree with him too.

“Anyway, what is it, I want to get back to bed."

“Actually,” Mikey stated, clearly uncomfortable with how his older brother was about to take the news. “About that.” 

And so here Gerard was, at nine o’ clock in the morning driving Oliver, Mikey’s puppy to doggy day care. Gerard had laughed when Mikey had told him what he wanted him to do, finding the notion ridiculous and smugly noting that his opinion on this had made Mikey feel embarrassed. It turned out that there was a problem at Mikey’s place of work and he had to go in early and since Alicia had already left an hour ago, there was nobody to take Oliver to the day care center for dogs. Mikey explained that Oliver had started going there recently when Alicia had gotten promoted, meaning she had to work more often and therefor, their days working often clashed. Not wanting to leave the puppy on it’s own all day, Mikey had searched for a place to send him on the days that both Alicia and Mikey were working. At first Gerard had refused, not wanting to give up a morning spent sleeping in bed and waking up to a late coffee but hearing the whining insistence in Mikey’s voice for once didn’t make in angry but slightly guilty. He didn’t do enough for the kid. Besides, he didn’t want the mutt to spend the day with him. 

Telling Mikey he’d be there in half an hour, Gerard had wandered to the bathroom of his small apartment and taken a shower, humming the words to a Leathermouth song whilst he did it. He had sloped back to his bedroom and rubbed his towel through his wet hair, knowing within the hour it would be the dark tangled mess he knew and loved. He then picked at some clothes on the floor, absentmindedly sniffing them to see if they were wearable. Satisfied with a pair of black skinny jeans and an old faded Smashing Pumpkins shirt, he returned to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Staring into the mirror he had sighed at his 23 year old face. He looked tired, work out, sad. Muttering to himself about how the state of his face was obviously due to the fact that he had been woken so unexpectedly, Gerard grabbed a stick of eyeliner off the bathroom windowsill and slicked some on. Once again he took in his appearance and left the bathroom, finding solace at the coffee machine. 

After his second cup Gerard decided it was time to go. Climbing into the truck his father had passed down to him on his 22nd birthday when he declared he had found somewhere to live and was moving out, Gerard shoved a random CD into the CD player and set off to his mom’s house. As he was three years younger than Gerard, Mikey was 19, nearly 20 and still lived at their mom’s house. Knowing the way, Gerard decided to speed up, leaving time to actually find the place he was going. Mikey directions, as usual, had not been clear enough for Gerard. 

The journey was not long and Gerard seemed to be finding his way to Belleville Puppy Pals more easily than he thought he would. After twenty minutes of driving Gerard pulled into the business park and followed the signs to the day care center. It was easy to find. A maroon jeep decorated with pictures of dogs was parked outside the building, the name and number of the business displayed on each side on the car. The business sign above the door was also adorned in pictures of puppies and paw prints. Through the glass windows which filled the whole front of the building, Gerard could see the first part of the store taken up by a mini shop, filled with dog food, treat and play things. A desk took up the rest of the shop floor. Gerard shut off the car and the sound of Conor Oberst quickly died. Leaning over to Oliver he clipped on the dogs lead then opened his door and stepped out into the pouring rain. Slamming his door shut he ran over to the passenger side and grabbed Oliver’s lead, tugging the puppy out into the rain with him. The pair quickly made their way over to the door of the building and stepped over the mat, alerting the staff that someone had come in. 

Immediately Gerard felt uncomfortable as the dogs contained in the huge fence paneled playpen which filled up the rest of the shop floor, began to bark, voicing their indignation at the presence of a new dog that they could not see. The side of the playpen facing the shop floor had been covered up exactly for this purpose, however the motion censored mat had alerted the dogs of another’s arrival and now they began to press themselves up against the fence, desperate to sniff the new arrival. The noise alarmed Gerard and he felt like pushing himself against the wall and disappearing, either that or just leaving Oliver unattended and getting out of there as soon as possible. The noise however did not have the same affect on the puppy who sat at Gerard’s feet calmly, lifting his wet noise into the air and breathing in the air.

At the other side of the fence, surrounded by dogs of every breed, size, shape and color was Frank Iero, holding his favorite of all the dogs. Abbie, a large grey and white Shih Tzu shifted in Frank’s tattooed arms as he bent down to look through a crack in one of the fence panels, checking to see if someone had come to check in a dog. What Frank saw surprised him. A pale man with a disheveled mop of black hair which settled just under his shoulders and a pained and uncomfortable expression on his face. The man was wearing a skinny jeans and a pair of black scruffy Converse, along with a Smashing Pumpkins shirt that looked older than the band itself. 

Frank did not recognize this man and was pondering who he might be when he noticed the puppy at his feet. Recognizing Oliver, Frank placed the Shih Tzu onto the floor and headed towards the gate to let himself out of the playpen. 

“Someone there?” his co worked Rebekah asked, her middle length black hair pulled into a messy pony tail as she fought off the advances of Harley, a chocolate brown Great Dane who desperately wanted a kiss.

“Oh yeah.” Frank grinned. “Yeah, there is. I’ll get this one.”


	2. But I Realize That I Need You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard was flushed, overwhelmed by the friendliness and chattiness of the man he had just met. And being likened to Mikey? Well that was just crazy. Gerard felt nothing like his younger brother. Mikey was over three years younger than him and yet at nineteen it seemed he had his whole life put together. Great girl, a job, everything Gerard had tried so hard to grasp and failed. Now he was twenty three and living in his crappy apartment having left art college with no money and not even a dead end job to his name. He felt detached from his family as well as reality, sleeping til mid afternoon and surviving on coffee and cigarettes. He had failed to work with comics and now was facing the possibility of leaving behind a dream he had had since childhood. He felt like exactly what he was; a friendless, depressed loser who depended on popping pills and drinking cheap alcohol to stay alive, although for what he still hadn't figured out. And now he was faced with this, this energetic, vibrant guy who had just met him five minutes ago and was now chattering away nineteen to the dozen, clearing not self conscious or uncomfortable at all, something which Gerard ached for.

And so I thought I’d let you know  
That these things take forever  
I especially am slow  
But I realize that I need you  
And I wondered if I could come home

Reaching the gate Frank grabbed the metal lock and tugged it backwards to open the door way. He lightly pushed away the dogs fighting to get out and greet the new arrival and stepped out onto the shop floor. Once he was on the other side of the fence Frank locked the gate from his side and left the dogs excitedly swimming around Rebekah's ankles. 

As Frank made his way over to Gerard he smiled, somehow thinking his day was about to get slightly better.  
In his anxiety at being in a new place and feeling quite uncomfortable, Gerard didn't notice Frank approach him until he heard the slight sound of knees cracking and glanced down to where the noise had come from seeing Frank for the first time happily stroking Oliver who was wriggling excitedly at his friend and eager to start the day with the other dogs.  
Feeling the stare of the older man, Frank glanced up at Gerard, a smile his already friendly smile widening as he looked up at him. Giving Oliver one last ruffle of his ears Frank straightened up and once he was on his feet looked up at Gerard who was slightly taller than him and straightened out a hand for him to shake.

“Hey man. I'm Frank. Mikey couldn't bring his dog in himself today?” Frank questioned, raising his eyebrows curiously.

Gerard reached out, took Frank's hand and shook it, slightly worried his anxiety had made his hands sweaty and resolved to inconspicuously wipe his hands on his jeans when he was released from Frank's grip. 

“Uh, I'm Gerard, Mikey's brother. And no, he had a thing at work. He said it'd be ok if I dropped Oliver off?” As he replied Gerard began to drink in the shorter man's appearance. He looked about Mikey's age, although Gerard was sure Frank's height meant he was often assumed to be much younger. He couldn't have been much more than five foot. Gerard knew he was at least eighteen though as tattoos covered Frank's body. They were all over his arms and Gerard was sure there were more covered up by his clothes. His favorite of those he come see was a small scorpion peeking out over the collar of his Misfits t shirt. Misfits, good taste thought Gerard inwardly. As well as the Misfits t shirt that was baggily covering Frank's chest, he was wearing skinny jeans which clung to his small waist and a pair of scuffed grey Converse trainers, a slight green grassy tinge to them which Gerard was sure was from the parks which covered Jersey. Frank's hair was long and black reaching just above his shoulders, his fringe curling downwards to his ear.

Frank's answer brought Gerard back to attention. “Oh no man, it's cool. Don't worry about it. Just got to make sure. It's the rules you know? Kinda stupid if you ask me,” Frank chuckled. “Besides, I kind of thought you looked familiar. I can see Mikey in you.”

Gerard was flushed, overwhelmed by the friendliness and chattiness of the man he had just met. And being likened to Mikey? Well that was just crazy. Gerard felt nothing like his younger brother. Mikey was over three years younger than him and yet at nineteen it seemed he had his whole life put together. Great girl, a job, everything Gerard had tried so hard to grasp and failed. Now he was twenty three and living in his crappy apartment having left art college with no money and not even a dead end job to his name. He felt detached from his family as well as reality, sleeping til mid afternoon and surviving on coffee and cigarettes. He had failed to work with comics and now was facing the possibility of leaving behind a dream he had had since childhood. He felt like exactly what he was; a friendless, depressed loser who depended on popping pills and drinking cheap alcohol to stay alive, although for what he still hadn't figured out. And now he was faced with this, this energetic, vibrant guy who had just met him five minutes ago and was now chattering away nineteen to the dozen, clearing not self conscious or uncomfortable at all, something which Gerard ached for.  
Noticing Gerard wasn't responding to Frank's attempt at conversation with even a polite nod or smile, Frank reached out and touched Gerard's bare arm, breaking him from his reverie.

“Hey man, you ok? You kinda zoned out there? I just need you to sign Oliver in for me if that's ok?”

Reeling from the touch of another, Gerard stepped back a step, conscious of the fact that if he put one more foot behind the other he would soon be crashing into the window behind him. Glowing red, Gerard decided to pay attention to what Frank was saying and looked at the clipboard Frank was indicating. Grabbing the pen Gerard signed the dog's name and his signature, quickly realizing his signature sloping xoxo was not suitable for this occasion. Wondering what to do he clutched the clipboard and stuttered “Uh..I..Sorry, I-”

Frank cocked his head to the side to get a quick look at what Gerard had written and chuckled softly. “Those for me?” he asked, winking suggestively and waiting for Gerard to squirm.  
Once he did, glowing brighter than he had before, Frank let out a short laugh and turned around towards the playpen. “Dude, it's cool. Nice signature. Makes it harder for people to fake your documents and stuff, right?” Frank teased turning around to flash Gerard a quick grin. “You can bring Oliver down by the way, he hasn't been here many times so it might be easier if you did it.”

Gerard complied and began to walk towards where Frank was headed. He passed through the chain which Frank had left open for him, separating the shop floor from the playpen. As he rounded the corner Gerard noticed that unlike the side of the playpen facing the shop floor, the rest of the playpen was not covered up and so Gerard could easily see into the large play area for the dogs. What he saw overwhelmed him. The dogs which had not stopped barking since he had entered the building now saw a strange newcomer and lunged at the fence, desperate to greet Gerard. The playpen was filled with toys of every shape and size for the dogs and there was shelves covered with plastic cups filled with treats, rolls of toilet paper, rubber gloves and soap. There was also a waste paper basket screwed onto the walls. There was even a children's playhouse deposited in the middle of the floor, it's green walls and red roof currently occupying a small brown sheep dog who was peering out of the window. Near the gate surrounded by yet more dogs was a short (but not shorter than Frank) and chubby woman who smiled warmly at Frank and Gerard.

“Welcome to paradise!” she shouted above the noise.

Frank laughed and introduced Rebekah and Gerard to each other (“This is Rebekah. She makes me feel better about being such a shortarse. Becky, this is Gerard, he's Mikey's brother.”) whilst he bent down and un clipped Oliver from his leash. Rebekah held back the dogs as best she could and Frank opened to gate, released Oliver into the pen. The dogs began to swim around him at once, sniffing at him until they realized they knew him and having already smelt him before, they sauntered off to whatever they were doing before leaving Oliver to get a hug from Rebekah.

Gerard turned to Frank and rubbing his hand on the back of his neck he laughed. "Wow. Loud, you know?"

"Ah, you get used to it." Frank replied grinning. "I love dogs. It's kind of my dream job I think. It just kinda popped up out of nowhere but I'm glad it did. The pay isn't wonderful and I go home every night tired and covered in dog hair but fuck it, it's better than working in a supermarket, right?" Frank smiled, his eyes shining. "Oh wait, shit dude, you don't work in a supermarket or something do you?" 

"Nah. Even they wouldn't have me." Gerard joked back hiding the fact that sadly, it was actually true. One day in a pit of despair over his future and without enough cigarettes to last the night, Gerard had trailed to the local supermarkets hoping in such big stores his appearance wouldn't matter and he could easily slip anonymously into the working world. However, one look at Gerard's greasy hair and dropping expression and he was told there were no vacancies at that moment even though the sign was clearly in view of all staff and employees. He had left the last shop without even caring to try to be polite and appear like he was a hard worker and had sloped back home and drank the night away, cursing himself for not making an effort to change his clothes and wash his hair. That was only a few months ago and Gerard was even worse off now than he liked to admit. 

Frank had chuckled at Gerard's response and turned to Rebekah who was calling him from the other side of the fence. "Frankie, you can take your break now if you want, I can manage here on my own for a bit." She said, sending Frank a wink that Gerard didn't quite see.

"Sweet. So, coffee?" Frank asked Gerard, praying that this new interesting stranger wasn't busy. "I mean, if you want to. You don't have to, I-"

"No," Gerard cut him off, sending him a smile. "I'd like to. I could do with some coffee. Not used to being up this early.."

Frank chuckled and began to tell Gerard how he'd been up since half six seeing as he started work at half seven, amused when Gerard winced at the early opening hours. They opened the front door of the building and stepped out into the rain, laughing as they ran to the coffee shop across the road.


	3. But now I don’t care. I could go anywhere with you and I’d probably be happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We should jam together soon dude. I don’t get enough time what with work and shit. By the time I get home all I wanna do is shower to get the dog stink off of me and crawl into bed. Poor Pans is feeling pretty forgotten right now I’d guess. I’d love to get her out and just mess around with you guys, see what we could do, you know?"  
> Gerard smiled, his heart warmed by Frank’s excitement. He was not thinking about Frank in the shower. Nope. No way. And he was definitely, definitely not thinking of Frank in bed for the night, his pale skin covered only by boxers and marred only by tattoos against crumpled sheets. Gerard decided to humour Frank, his face breaking into a smile as his eyes flicked to Frank’s. “All we need now for this imaginary band is a drummer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long, whoops.

Remember the time you drove all night  
Just to meet me in the morning  
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed  
You felt as if you'd just woke up  
And you said “this is the first day of my life  
I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you  
But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you  
And I’d probably be happy

 

Reaching the coffee shop they pushed open the door and sank into the nearest chairs available, the warm atmosphere and smell of coffee hitting their bodies almost instantaneously, the gentle murmur of the nearby customers creating a welcoming atmosphere.  
It was one of those easy going, slow paced coffee shops, one which had menus of the drinks and snacks available placed on each table as well as tiny colorful vases of plastic flowers as well as a counter for those who were in rush to order their drinks and take them away.  
Almost right away a young and skinny blonde girl who couldn't have been much older than seventeen approached the men with a small pad of paper and introduced herself as Jessica. Taking a pencil from behind her ear causing a strand of hair to fall into her face she took their orders of two large black coffees. As the shop was relatively empty at that point the waitress was back in almost an instant, carrying steaming Styrofoam cups and coffee. Setting the coffees down on the table, the waitress flashed Frank and Gerard a quick smile before returning to the counter to serve an elderly couple with graying hair.  
The men reached for their coffees and each swallowed a loud mouthful of the hot liquid before sharing a small smile, sated by the drink they both so obviously adored.  
Listening to the quick patter of rain against the windows and leaning back in their chairs, the men began a conversation which showed them how alike they truly were. Although unusually anxious at meeting a new person and being out of the house after so long, Gerard's nerves quickly melted away, entranced at Frank's positivity and his constant supply of energy. He bounced about in his seat, passionately raving about the subject he loved the most; music. Gerard hid a smile and a self-conscious blush behind his cup of coffee. It became obvious to the two men that they had a lot in common, be it for their mutual love of bands like Misfits and The Smashing Pumpkins or the fact that they had both dreamed of starting a band when they were younger. Frank admitted to Gerard, somewhat sadly, that he did not see a life in a band in his future – he was settled. He had a job, an apartment. He was happy. although he often loved to strum away on his old beaten guitar he called Pansy. Gerard had laughed at that and explained that he had once tried and failed to learn to play guitar – he was truly terrible.  
When Gerard had shyly admitted he liked to sing Frank had beamed, becoming even more excited than Gerard had thought was possible.  
He began gesturing wildly about how 'singing is awesome, dude!' and confessing it was something that had tried but was never quite sure if it came naturally to him.  
Gerard confessed he had a friend, Ray, who he had known since elementary school who also played guitar like Frank, almost forgetting about his brother who had played since they were teenagers.  
Frank didn't believe Gerard at first, setting down his coffee cup and leaning forward so close to Gerard that he could almost feel Frank's breath on his cheek. “Wait, wait. Lemme get this straight. Mikey plays guitar? That awkward son of a bitch plays? And he never once told me despite all the times I've moaned to him about not having enough time to play Pansy cause of work?! Aw, dude, no way!” Frank began to laugh and leaned back in his chair causing it to move slightly under the stone flooring. “That fucker.” he chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief.  
“Yeah, he plays,” laughed Gerard. “Since we were kids.”  
“We should jam together soon dude. I don’t get enough time what with work and shit. By the time I get home all I wanna do is shower to get the dog stink off of me and crawl into bed. Poor Pans is feeling pretty forgotten right now I’d guess. I’d love to get her out and just mess around with you guys, see what we could do, you know?"  
Gerard smiled, his heart warmed by Frank’s excitement. He was not thinking about Frank in the shower. Nope. No way. And he was definitely, definitely not thinking of Frank in bed for the night, his pale skin covered only by boxers and marred only by tattoos against crumpled sheets. Gerard decided to humour Frank, his face breaking into a smile as his eyes flicked to Frank’s. “All we need now for this imaginary band is a drummer.”  
Frank looked up at Gerard and began to laugh, his laughter causing Gerard’s smile to widen whilst he wondered what was so funny. “I actually know a guy. He's uh, he’s called Bob. Real nice guy. Beard. Hates flies.”  
“Well that's an odd description of a guy if I ever heard one.” Gerard commented whilst Frank grinned.  
Since Frank had described Bob, he demanded a description of Ray, laughing whilst Gerard recounted some story from their childhood and told Frank of his huge and untamable curls.  
Frank smiled at Gerard whose inky black hair fell slightly in his face. ‘Dude, it’s totally meant to be!”  
Gerard smiled back at Frank, nodding whilst eternally thanking Mikey for getting him out of bed this morning. “Maybe it is. Maybe it is.”  
Describing their friends lead to talking about themselves and the rest of Frank's lunch/coffee break was spent talking about themselves and their interests. They learnt they had both grown up in Belleville and spent their entire lives there, despite going to different high schools. Gerard learnt that Frank was twenty one, slightly older that Mikey and younger than himself by about two years. Frank explained that his co worked Rebekah was a distant cousin and she had recommended him for the job. “It's the only job I've really felt at home at, you know? It might not be a rock band or something glamorous like that, but it's perfect for me. I get to play with dogs all day and I'd pick that over working in a fast food restaurant any day, you know.” Frank grinned. “Man, I want so many dogs. As many as possible.”  
“Do you have any right now?”  
“Yeah, I have Mama. She’s in there right now actually. Get to bring her to work with me seeing as I’m out all day. Everyone that works there does, it’s a sweet deal. Let’s see, there’s my Mama. Then there’s Tux, Beka’s guy, Darcy, she’s Noel’s. The boss, she has Harvey, Arnie and Benny. I’ll have to introduce you to Mama some time.”   
“I’d like that.” Replied Gerard, because even though he really wanted to see Frank again, he wasn’t sure if Frank wanted to see him. Did he actually want to see Gerard again or did he just say it to be polite? What did he even mean, introduce him to Mama? Like, if Gerard even had to drop his brother’s dog off at daycare again? Or like a ‘I’d like to see you again, maybe even at my place’ kinda thing?  
Frank’s voice pulled him out of his head. “Listen to me yammering on about myself,” smiled Frank, taking a sip of his coffee, the heat of the drink slightly flushing his face and turned his lips pinker. Gerard began to stare at Frank as he licked his lips and swallowed nervously before snapping his eyes back to Frank’s. “What do you do anyway? Got the day off today or something?”  
“I, uh, I. No. I..” stammered Gerard nervously. He began picking at the skin on his nails to avoid having to look Frank in the eyes.   
Frank noticed and straight away he placed a hand a top of Gerard’s arm comfortingly. “Sorry dude, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Frank tried to back track, wondering what had upset Gerard so much.  
Gerard felt as if the skin under Frank’s hand was on fire. He flinched slightly under his touch, sure than his face was burning for all to see. ‘Be brave, Gerard.’ He told himself.  
He looked Frank in the eyes before continuing. “Actually I’m between jobs right now. I went to art college but I couldn’t yet a job.” Ignoring a comment of ‘That sucks.’ from Frank he continued. “I decided it’d be best to stay away from work for a bit. I mostly stick to free lance work whenever there is some..I need time right now to uh..to work through some stuff.” Gerard rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a nervous habit, and thought of all the empty alcohol bottles that covered his home, all the pill bottles scattered across the surfaces, the box of razor blades locked away under his bed ‘just in case.’ Just in case it got too much, that’s what he told himself anyway. Having the option made him feel safer somewhat. “To be honest, I wasn’t even gonna get up today until Mikey called. It’s just too hard sometimes, you know.” Gerard stated with a sharp laugh, showing this wasn’t really anything to laugh at at all. “Sometimes I think there’s no point in getting up, no point in anything.”  
Gerard didn’t know why he was telling this to a stranger, especially to someone like Frank, someone so happy, so bouncy, so energetic. He obviously wouldn’t understand. He just needed to offload a bit he guessed. He was never gonna see this guy again he figured. Unless he had to drop Mikey’s dog off to daycare again then it’d be awkward. But hey, maybe Frank would’ve forgotten about it by then. Frank didn’t care.  
Gerard was proved wrong when the pressure of Frank’s hand, which had been resting on Gerard’s arm the whole time, increased with Frank squeezing his arm comfortingly. “I’m sorry man.” Frank stated, sympathetically but not pityingly Gerard noted. Gerard looked into Frank’s eyes and saw that he was sincere.  
The moment was broken by the young waitress, who Frank remembered as Jessica, approaching their table and flashing them a quick smile. “Is there anything else I can get you guys? I mean , you’ve been here a long time and the boss..” Jessica trailed off, looking apologetic but Frank barely noticed as he shot a quick look at his watch and realised how late it was. “Shit!” he shouted and jumped up from his chair causing it to scrape against the floor. As he shrugged on his now dry jacket he dug a crumpled piece of paper out from his jacket pocket along with a pencil from his back pocket. “Shit Gee I’m so late. I gotta go. Oh man, Beka’s gonna kill me.” Gerard nodded as Frank leant over the wooden table, his hair falling in his eyes and he haphazardly scribbled something onto the paper before thrusting it in Gerard’s face. “I hate to leave like this but I really gotta go.” Frank squeezed Gerard’s arm and looked at him, suddenly nervous. “I’ll see you soon, right?” Gerard nodded dumly, still shocked at how only 30 seconds ago they were having a calm conversation and now Frank was acting like his ass was gonna get beat if he was even one more second late.  
Frank’s face flushed with relief at Gerard’s reply. He dug a few crumpled notes out of his pocket and slammed them on the table before nodding and beginning to walk away from the table before shooting Gerard another look. Gerard smiled at Frank encouragingly until Frank nodded again and pulled the café door open, letting a rush of cold air inside. Gerard looked outside the window and chuckled at the image of Frank dodging pedestrians whilst sprinting back to his workplace, his hair beginning to dampen against his face in the now drizzling air.  
Gerard watched Frank wrench open to door of Puppy Pals and instantly be met with an angry looking Rebekah. The two began to have an animated conversation, complete with hand gestures, Rebekah’s to show her anger and Frank’s to show his apologies.  
Gerard chuckled once again and leant back in his chair, reaching for the scrap of paper Frank had left in his wake. Gerard smiled at the paper, showing it was a receipt for dog food, more than likely for Mama. Gerard smile widened however when he flipped the receipt over to find a messy phone number accompanied with the words ‘Call me, xofrnk.’  
Gerard looked up to find Jessica leaning over a nearby table to clean it. Catching his eye she winked at him. Gerard smiled at her, a warm feeling filling him up.  
Pulling out his phone he texted Mikey to let him know Oliver got to day care okay. He put his hand back into his pocket to retrieve a few dollar bills to pay for his coffee when Jessica stopped him, smiling. “It’s okay honey, he left quite enough for both of you.” Gerard smiled back, turning pink at the thought of Frank paying for him. He counted a few dollars of his own money before putting it on the table next to Frank’s small pile. “In that case, I’ll have another.” Jessica nodded and smiled, picking up the money and going to make his drink.  
Gerard relaxed in his chair and observed those around him. He decided he wouldn’t go back home to the bottle right now. Not yet.


End file.
